Trivia

The symbol Timonides wears around his neck is a staurogram, an early symbol of Christianity. It's the only mention of Christianity in this movie.

Alec Guinness admitted that he never saw more than 20 minutes of the completed movie.

Stephen Boyd blamed the massive commercial failure of this movie for ruining his movie career.

Sophia Loren's salary for this movie was $1 million. She was the second actress, behind Elizabeth Taylor, to receive that amount for a single movie.

Richard Harris was originally cast as Commodus. He withdrew because of artistic differences with director Anthony Mann. He was cast as Commodus' father Marcus Aurelius in Gladiator (2000).